Imagine the distinguished professor of roster management trying to spread 11.7 scholarships across a squad of 35 players.

Doing that math might make his head ex­plode.

Now ponder his reaction if he had one of the top 30 teams in the country but didn't get a bid to the NCAA Tournament, in large part because his team didn't qualify for the SEC Tournament.

How much dirt would he kick up in that case?

Saban's job as the Alabama football coach isn't easy -- the results just make it look that way -- but there will be 10 men at Regions Park this week that operate under a greater degree of difficulty.

Their competition is just as strong, but their compensation pales in comparison. Their sport gets the cold shoulder from the NCAA, according to former Mississippi State coach Ron Polk, because the players, as a rule, are too white, too male and too upper class.

Who are these poor, tired, huddled masses? SEC baseball coaches. They have the toughest jobs in their league.

They have to fight, scratch and claw for 30 conference games against the best collection of teams in the country just to make the conference tournament. Or else. Consider.

Saban got to take his Alabama football team to the BCS Championship Game last season even though the Crimson Tide didn't win the SEC West or play in the SEC Championship Game.

Paul Mainieri didn't get to take his LSU baseball team to the 64-team NCAA Tournament despite a top 30 RPI last year, in large part because the Tigers weren't one of the eight teams that reached the SEC Tournament.

No trip to Hoover meant no road to Omaha.

It was no coincidence.

Tim Weiser, chair of the Division I Baseball Committee last year, explained why a St. John's team with a much worse RPI in a much weaker conference got an at-large bid and LSU didn't.

"In the end, what that discussion centered on for a number of our committee members is that a second-place finish in the Big East was more important than a ninth-place finish in the SEC," Weiser said.

Now do you understand, Jim Delany, why Saban is so passionate that the coming playoff in college football should include the four best teams, whether they're conference champions or not? All conferences are not created equal.

Kevin Scarbinsky is a columnist for The Birmingham News. His column is published on Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday.

The SEC Tournament starts this morning and continues all week in Hoover. The two coaches that have combined to win the last three national championships will be there, and they'll be glad of it.

"We're extremely proud to be going to Hoover at all after last year," said Mainieri, whose LSU program won the 2009 College World Series. "Believe it or not, going to Hoover is not something you take for granted because you know how tough this league is."

Believe it or not, Ray Tanner, coach of the 2010 and 2011 College World Series champions from South Carolina, used the exact same words to express the exact same feeling on Monday's SEC teleconference.

"We're glad to be going to Hoover," Tanner said. "It's something that no coach in our league takes for granted."

The league itself gained a new appreciation for the meaning of making it to Hoover last year. Only one team in the RPI top 30 didn't get an NCAA bid. It was LSU. Only three teams in the RPI top 40 didn't make the field. Two of them were LSU and Ole Miss.

What did the Tigers and Rebels have in common? Neither made it to Hoover.

What did the SEC do in response to that snub and in anticipation of Texas A&M and Missouri expanding the roster to 14 teams next season? In December, the league decided to expand this week's tournament from eight to 10 teams, hoping to increase its chances of sending more than eight teams into the NCAA field.

SEC baseball coaches need every boost they can get. Theirs is a tough job, competing against the best players and programs in the country while making less money than a football coordinator. So excuse them this week if an ump blows a call and they blow a fuse.